IBSNAT - The Development of Reliable Simulators of Complex Agronomic Systems
During a period of approximately eleven years beginning in the early 80s the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded a multimillion-dollar network of agricultural and information scientists working in various parts of the world. Sparked initially by Univ. of Hawaii agronomists Goro Uehara and Gordon Tsuji, the aim of the project was nothing less than to improve the lot of limited resource farmers in the tropics and subtropics by compressing time. To accomplish this the project focused primarily on developing tools for systems analysis and simulation. The rationale was that armed with reliable simulators of the interaction between crops, soils and weather, farmers and policymakers could make informed decisions about the adoption of new technologies in new environments. Furthermore, this could be done without expending the decades normally required to introduce, test and disseminate such technologies through conventional methods. In the words of the project managers: "A typical scenario… may involve a comparison of a new variety with the one grown by the farmer, planted on the same day, on a sandy and clayey section of the farm, and supplied with 25 or 50 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare, once at planting and again at flowering. The outcome of this treatment combination would then be simulated for 50 different weather years to assess stability and productivity of the cropping system. An experiment that would nearly consume an agronomist's entire professional career could now be completed in a few minutes on a desktop computer."
Needless to say, the development of such "reliable simulators" of complex agronomic systems and the accompanying decision analysis tools would constitute a weighty undertaking, not to mention the obvious follow-up to ensure that "strong links between the biophysical outcomes and socioeconomic needs could later be forged." The resultant project came to be known as IBSNAT (International Benchmark Sites Network for Agrotechnology Transfer), and this book is in essence an overview of the project and its major technical products. Its title notwithstanding, this book is neither a handbook of agricultural management options, nor a review of agricultural decision making strategies. Rather, the book provides an overview of the simulation and analysis tools developed to support the making of decisions and recommendations. The title does, however, make sense when one understands that the ultimate objective of the project originators was to meet the need for farmers to have greater "access to options for improving their situation," and to "empower farmers and policy makers with a capacity to choose a better future for themselves and society.
As Jensen points out, farming and industry accounts for the vast majority of total water usage in the world (477). The increasingly scarce resource is a necessary ingredient when growing food. Technology continuously improves to make it easier for farmers to grow crops while using less water. Scientists at the University of Georgia utilize what they term “variable rate irrigation” to let farmers automate the current systems of irrigation to water only the crops that need it (Gies). This is an example of retrofitting current farms, but there is a new way of farming coming to cities that reuses practically all of its water and stakes claim much less acreage in the process. The future of agriculture belongs to vertical and urban farming. These types of farms reduce the use of water, chemicals (such as pesticides, herbicides and fungicides), soil and space (The Economist). These farms are so cutting edge that they are mostly in the experimental stages. Firms like Famgro farms are testing “stackable” farming systems that can scale with demand, even further reducing waste. Famgro’s stackable farms are ideal for cityscapes where land is at a premium; furthermore, reaping the added benefit of being in close proximity to the customers that they serve. Customers will enjoy high quality, fresh produce at only a slightly
The Artwork that I will be analyzing is ‘(blossoming) Autumn sun’ paint in 2006 by Imants Tillers using acrylic, gouache on 54 canvas boards. Imants Tillers is an Australian artist, curator, and a writer who was born in the 1950’s in Sydney. He is also known for painting ‘Conversation with the bride, ‘The Bridge of reversible Destiny, ‘The Letter I, and ‘The Forming of Place.
Effective management and optimization of the feeding process is critical as that effects not only profitability but also has an impact on improved pasture utilization and effective use of supplements. Therefore, beyond established farm feeding methods, there is a need for decision support tools to support farmers to take strategic feeding decisions.
Every new technology has advantages and disadvantages, aims and limitations. As each new technology is released though, we ourselves weigh up the profit and productivity against the cost and ethical dilemmas. Still, as reserch continues, technological advances will undoubtedly become a huge part of the Australian commercial farming industry. The question is when.
Davis, Tony. "Climate to stress crops." Arizona Daily Star. 1990. Web. 05 Nov 2013. .
Overall, this field remained in fair condition throughout the growing season. A few areas developed some unevenness in the stand and where the corn was shorter the plants looked slightly weaker and discolored. During the fifth week, the temperatures increased causing some of the corn to develop heat stress. However, the duration of this period did no last more than a few days and should not greatly affect the crop’s yield. The final population for this field was about 30,670 plants per acre. Tasseling occurred around the eighth week and pollination was mostly complete by the end of week nine.
The minimum wage today has a lot of issues; some people say it is not enough to live comfortably. Many agree that there needs to be an increase in minimum wages and by doing that it can help with our issues of poverty. Statistics show that a worker who is full time and earning minimum wage makes only $15,080 a year, which is under the federal poverty line for a family of two. (Gitis, 2013) The problem with that is $15,080 is not a sufficient amount that a person can live and grow on. “A family of two can consist of a mother and son or daughter, father and son or ...
Many farmers always wonder about newer, more efficient ways to farm. Farming becomes more and more precise every day; farmers struggle to keep up with moisture loss caused by dry-spells, soil and nutrient run-off caused by erosion, and trying to raise better yields. Although it may seem as if there is no answer, many farmers are turning to no-till as the solution. Some farmers stand against no-till, saying it keeps the ground too cold for too long in the spring, or that it will not allow them to get their crops up, but much research proves these beliefs wrong. No-till is an advantage over conventional-till for three main reasons: conserves moisture in the soil, reduces erosion by wind and rain, and increases the quality of the topsoil.
More than 4.6 million people live in poverty in the US. A question often raised when talking about minimum wage is, would raising it lower this number? The consensus is, yes, it would. If the federal minimum wage was raised, at lot of peoples’ incomes would grow, not just low wage workers. As employers shifted their pay scales upward, many incomes would grow. According to Jared Bernstein, the former chief economist of the Obama Administration, this isn’t as relevant as the impact is would have on low wage workers. He explains how, although many other people would benefit from an increase in minimum wage, most of the help would go to those who need it. He also notes, “We must be careful not to be wedded to poverty thresholds that are inadequate measures of who needs the help.” If the minimum wage was raised to $10.10 per hour, 2 million people would be lifted out of poverty (US Department of
During the rule of Adolf Hitler, many children who were Jewish lived a very frightening and difficult life. They never were given the love and compassion that every child needs and deserves growing up. The Holocaust is a story that will continue to be shared till the end of time.
Those who survived are here to tell the tragic and devastating history of their lives. The survivors have shared brutal but yet realistic stories from each of their experiences before, during, and after the Holocaust. History shall never repeat itself in the manner of racism, murder, and fear of our leaders. The burning hope of those who were involved still generates an enormous sadness upon the many who have heard the horror of the Holocaust.
The widespread application of The Internet of Things (IOT) can not only change the extensive management mode in agriculture, but also develop the strength in epidemic control for animals and plants to ensure the safety of the agricultural products quality. So it’s of great significance to intensify research efforts on the application of IOT in agriculture and forestry. In recent years, IOT has been applied in some agriculture and forestry fields. Now we’ll give a basic overview of it.
What would happen if farmer’s fields didn’t grow according as planned? How would America get it’s precious food? Thank goodness for agronomist’s. Agronomist work hard work hard to make sure a farmer’s fields are at the peak of their performance. Agronomist’s work with crops, soils, and improving the environment (Agronomy.org).
The future of farming is coming at us faster than anybody could possibly imagine. Who would ever think of touch screen displays and very advanced warning systems? These days we have stuff like automated crop reporting, harvest lab, and many more features. These are just some of the technology that can help shape the future for more precise and accurate performance of our equipment used in the agricultural word today. With this new technology that can drive your tractor you can take that girl on a ride on you're big green tractor because you wont have to drive it so you can pay attention to her next to you.
People have depended on agriculture for years as the primary source of getting food. We have developed all kinds of ways to manipulate nature so what we can produce higher yield crops, more nutritious crops, bigger crops, crops that withstand cold, and farming equipment that allows us to manufacture these crops with relative ease. Why then are there five billion people being malnourished and forty thousand children dying each day from hunger? It seems as though world hunger is more a result of the lack of distributing the food properly than the lack of quantity. agriculture has turned into a high profit business and biotech companies like Monsanto are constantly trying to come up with better and more efficient ways of farming. Are they doing this to try to solve the world hunger crisis, or merely to make a profit?